Integrated Industrial

Servo Driven Approach in Robotic DispeDsiDg System

Akihiro Yanagita Product Manager Application Products Division F ANUC Robotics North America, Inc

Integrated Servo Driven Dispensing approach integrates the dispense control together with the robot control, and utilizes the unique double acting shotmeter design. the benefit is more closely coupled dispensing control, reduced system components, increased reliability in overall system, higher quality dispense result, and total process solution. (Patent pending)

Introduction As robotic dispensing system is applied to wide variety of dispensing application, the robot often need to move along a complicated dispensing seam trajectory. In such cases, it is inevitable for the robot to slow down at sharp corners within the trajectory. In order to keep the same constant bead width throughout the dispensing seam, it is necessary to dynamically modulate the dispensing material flow rate based on the speed of the robot Tool Center Point (TCP) relative to the workpiece on which the material is to be dispensed. To achieve this goal, the robot controller has a mechanism to predict the actual TCP speed ahead of time (US patent 005373221 A), and sends the flow rate command to the dispensing controller based on the predicted TCP speed value. In a typical conventional dispensing system, the dispensing controller receives the flow rate command from the robotic controller as the analog signal. Based on the flow rate analog signal, the dispensing controller adjusts the material dispensing flow rate dynamically during the dispensing process.

The shotmeter dispensing technology is often utilized in the robotic dispensing application. The characteristics of the shotmeter technology are, low shear handling for low density sealer material, precise pressure control prior to start dispensing, positive and precise volumetric metering, etc. This technology is, therefore, able to provide good quality dispense result for the applications that requires rather constant dispensing flow of materials. On the other hand, the size of one shot is required to be big enough for one entire job, that is primarily due to its single acting design that needs some time to fill the material into the metering chamber, and therefore, the shotmeter unit is often inevitably bulky. Because of its bulkiness, the unit is not mounted on the robot arm, but is mounted at a remote location from the robot. Because of the length of the material supp(y pipe, the response time of the system is long, and therefore it is difficult to be able to modulate the flow rate quickly enough for the job. The dispensing system that is introduced here utilizes the double design and the integral servo dispensing (ISD) control system. acting shotmeter

The double acting meter operation is based on a reciprocating piston driven by a servo motor. Fluid flow through the meter is controlled by a valving arrangement that fills one side of the piston from the fluid supply while the other side of the piston displaces fluid out of the meter to the applicator mounted on the robot end of arm tooling. The servo motor and valving arrangement work together changing the direction of the piston travel when required. The dispense rate is controlled by the speed of piston displacement. This unique design of shotmeter provides the following benefits. .Double acting design eliminates "Fill" time .Shot size reduced for largest seam .Reduced physical size accommodates Robot mounting .RobOt mounting allows shorter response time for better dispense control The Integral Servo Dispensing (ISD) system is the new innovative approach to integrate the dispensing control into the robot control so that the robotic controller controls not only the robot arm, but also the dispenser unit using the same servo control structure. This system provides the following advantages. .Closely coupled precise control between robot and dispenser .Common servo control with robot for precise dispense control .Reduced number of system components for increased reliability .Simplified wiring in overall. system .Improved dispensing process result

Integral Figure-1

Servo shows

Dispensing the system

System configuration

Configuration of Integral Servo Dispensing system.

From Material

Supply

FANUC

R-J2 Robot Controller

Analog and Digital 1/0 Unit DispenseTooi Control Software (Robot and Dispenser Control)

Servo Control Unit (for Dispenser)

Servo Control Unit (for Robot Arm)

Figure-1 Integral Servo Dispenser System Configuration

Double

Acting

Shotmeter

Dispensing

Unit

The hardware for this system consists of the fluid metering device. Though the system is capable of controlling other styles of metering devices, the double acting shotmeter is the primary device the integral servo dispensing system controls. The double acting meter operation is based on a reciprocating piston driven by the servo motor. Fluid flow through the meter is controlled by a valving arrangement that fills one side of the piston from the fluid supply while the other side of the piston displaces fluid out of the meter to the applicator mounted on the robot end of arm tooling. The servo motor and valving arrangement work together changing the direction of the piston travel when required.

The dispense rate is controlled by the speed of piston displacement. transducers are located in the valving manifold to monitor supply and pressures.

Pressure dispense

Figure-2 Double Acting Shotmeter

Operation

The unique "Fill while dispensing" design of double acting meter eliminates the time for reloading the dispenser, and therefore, enables the size of one shot to be optimized to the largest seam instead of the entire job. The physical size of the shot meter unit is also reduced, and it has become possible for the shotmeter device to be mounted on the shoulder of the robot arm. This, in turn, improves the flow control response due to the shorter length in the material delivery system to the dispensing gun. The valve assembly consists of four pneumatically controlled valves. The condition of these valves defines the modes of meter operation; dispensing in positive meter direction, dispensing in negative meter direction, and recirculation of material between the two chambers. (Patent pending)

R-J2 Robot

controller

and DispenseToolTM

System

Control

Software

DispenseToolTM is the robotic operating system software that runs on the FANUC system R-J2 controller. With the Integral Servo Dispensing control feature, the DispenseTool software controls not only the robot arm, but also the servo motor to drive the dispenser. (Patent pending) Because of its highly integrated design, the robot control and dispenser control system shares the same servo control system, and therefore, the dispenser is controlled in closely coupled manner with the robot control. This improves the timing accuracy of dispensing control relative to the robot motion creating constant smooth dispensing result. When the user job program is run, the system software is capable of predicting the robot TCP speed ahead of time (prediction time user definable), and adjusts the dispensing flow rate based on the predicted TCP speed value. By adjusting the prediction time to be the response time of the material delivery system, the constant bead thickness may be maintained throughout the robot path. Integral Servo Dispensing System Operation Overview

The meter system has several modes of operation. During each mode the robot controller utilizes the necessary inputs and outputs to control the meter. Each mode of operation is described below. DISPENSE CONTROL This mode is used between the starting of dispensing process and the end of the process defined in the user job program. The meter speed is set by the flo.wrate command that is specified in the job program, and is calculated in conjunction with the predicted robot TCP speed value. This function drives meter and opens the dispense gun to apply sealant or adhesive. If the meter hits the meter stroke limit during dispensing, the system posts a warning message, reverses the meter motion direction, and continues dispensing. PRE-PRESSURE CONTROL This mode is normally used to prepare for the next dispensing process after a dispensing process has finished. The prepressure function uses the prepressure set point value specified in the job program. The system uses a sophisticated control algorithm, driving the meter in the proper direction, to reach the set point. If the setpoint is higher than the current pressure, the meter will drive forward compressing the sealer to achieve the proper pressure. If the set point is lower that the current pressure, the meter will drive in reverse decompressing the sealer to achieve the proper pressure. If the meter hits a stroke limit during prepressurization/depressurization the servo will stop, and the system will post a warning message. The meter can resume dispensing at the next dispensing process.

REPOSITION CONTROL The meter has its own operation stroke range. The control system uses the positional information from the servo motor pulse encoder to determine the current position of the meter. Re-positioning is the operation to bring the meter to closest stroke limit preparing for the next dispensing process with full chamber of dispensing material. An offset value can be defined to place the meter at some distance from the stroke limit allowing the meter to move backwards towards the meter stroke limit in an effort to reduce the pressure trapped between the meter and the gun. Performance The figure.:.3 shows the characteristics of the pressure control system, showing the response to a step command input of the pressure setpoint change from 300psi to 600psi. In this example the system is tuned with 10% overshoot as an allowable pressure tolerance for faster pressure transition. Although the characteristic of the pressure control system greatly depends on that of the material delivery system, this chart indicates robustness of the integral servo dispensing system, and quick pressure change within 250msec transition time from one pressure to another. The time to be able to change the pre-pressure value is important for the shorter cycle time in the actual production system.

.The

lines indicate

+1-10% of specified

pressure

difference

Figure-3 Pressure Control Characteristic

Conclusion In this paper we have described some significant advancements in the robotic dispensing system; A system with reduced amount of hardware, increased reliability, and improved dispensing process result. We hope that the integral servo dispensing system will contribute to the rapid progress in the robotic dispensing application for wide variety of industrial dispensing needs.